What is an epileptic syndrome?
Until recently, neurologists classified the types of seizures, such as focal or generalized convulsive. The past few decades, research has leaned toward determining if the patient has an epileptic syndrome, or a specific type occurring under certain conditions. These conditions could include a particular clinical setting at a certain age with other accompanying findings like radiological tests and EEGs. Absence–or petit mal–seizures can illustrate the value of a syndrome approach. Absence seizures are distinct seizures with a characteristic EEG pattern (the three-second spike and wave discharge). They usually occur in otherwise normal individuals, start in some children around 3 or 4 years of age, are usually not associated with another seizure type and disappear by the early teens. The children are otherwise normal and all the radiological studies (MRI) are normal.
